Phantom Pains
by StarWarrior72
Summary: Adults are haunted by the ghosts of their past, but five-year-old Luke shouldn't be hurt by that yet. Should he? He can't be blamed for being Vader's son, can he?
1. Chapter 1

Walking through the jail with my Daddy, I was very bored. It was weird too, because yesterday he got mad at me because I snuck into his ship and came here, but today he said I had to. Daddy's weird. I don't care. I'd love him no matter what.

_Maybe while I'm here I can see the rebel who helped me with my math. He was nice. I hope he's okay. Daddy will be mad if he knows. I promised that I'd forget it. I just can't though! I'll find a way to see him today. Daddy doesn't need to know._

_Okay, his cell's down the next hallway. I just have to let Daddy get ahead of me and then I can sneak down and see him. He'll be happy that Daddy sent his letter. Okay, Daddy's far enough in front. I just have to sneak into here and I'll be able to find him and see if he's okay._

I ran down the hall to his cell, but he wasn't there! I raced back to Daddy so he could tell me it was okay.

"Daddy! Where's the rebel I saw yesterday? He's not where he was! Did he go home?" I grabbed Daddy's hand again.

Daddy looked down at me and I felt his hand go cold, "Luke, what have I told you about talking to rebels?"

"Sorry, Daddy. Where is he?" I didn't really feel that bad about it and Daddy could sense it. He frowned at me a bit.

"Luke, I don't see why I should answer your question if you only have it because you disobeyed me."

"What?" Daddy uses such big words! I almost never understand him on the first try.

"You broke my rules. I don't want to answer your question because that would be like rewarding you for breaking the rules."

"Oh," I hung my head for a moment to show that I was sorry. Then I looked back up at him. I had managed to get some tears in my eyes. "Please, Daddy? I need to know he's okay!"

I really was worried about him now. Normally Daddy'll answer my questions right away. When he didn't answer after he saw I was crying the tears started to come faster and be a lot more real. Daddy will always do what I want if I start crying! He always does! If he won't answer me now, something must be really wrong!

"Daddy, what happened to him? He went home, right?"

Daddy bent down and picked me up, "He's safe now. I promise."

Daddy was avoiding my question, "Where is he?"

"He's in a better place." Daddy hugged me.

I knew that sentence. That was what he always said about Mommy. He also said Mommy couldn't come to visit. He said that she wanted to, but she couldn't. I want my Mommy. I want him to be okay too. Maybe he really is safe somewhere else. Maybe both of them are. But my teacher said it means something else.

"He's dead, isn't he?" I didn't really want to hear the answer. But I had to know. I had to know about Mommy too.

"Luke…" Daddy trailed off.

"He's dead and you won't even tell me," I cried.

"Yes. I'm sorry, Luke. I didn't want you to know." Daddy hugged me close and kept carrying me as he walked. I lay on his shoulder and cried.

When I stopped crying, I stayed in Daddy's arms but looked up so that I could see where I was. I was still in the prison and I was about to put my head back down when I noticed one of the prisoners staring at me. I stared back at him.

I mean, staring's rude and everything, but he was staring at me! If someone's being rude to you, you can be rude back.

He looked worse than the rebel who'd helped me with my homework. I think his hair might have been brown, but it was hard to tell under the blood. His eyes were definitely blue, but other than that I had no idea what he would look like if he was okay.

When I looked at his face to get a better idea of it, I felt the weirdest feeling ever. When Daddy and I look at each other's eyes, we both feel a little bit of a kinda zing that's us being Force sensitive. When I saw the rebel's eyes it was like that but way more.

"Daddy," I whispered in Daddy's ear, but didn't break eye contact, "Daddy, I think that guy over there's Force sensitive."

He was still staring at me, and he seemed as curious about me as I was about him. Daddy wasn't responding.

"Daddy, that guy over there's Force sensitive," I said, a little louder, and the man in the cell moved a little as he heard it.

Daddy still didn't answer.

"Daddy, that guy over there's Force sensitive and you said you needed to train another apprentice!" I almost shouted in Daddy's ear. Finally, Daddy turned to look at him.

"Not him, Luke." Daddy turned and I could see the man again. He wasn't looking at me anymore. He was looking down at the floor of his cell.

"Why not? You said that anyone would work. As long as they were Force sensitive."

"Not him, Luke." Daddy repeated. In his cell, the man's cheeks started to shine a bit.

"Daddy, why not?" I asked again.

"Because he is a Jedi. A Jedi would never agree to becoming a Sith."

"He can't be a Jedi. You wiped them out years ago. And anyway, didn't you say that Jedi don't have feelings?"

"Yes, I did. Why?"

"Because he's crying." I was pretty sure he was, anyway. His shoulders were shaking and his cheeks were shinier than ever.

Daddy turned again to see the man, "He is just trying to gain your sympathy, ignore him."

I rolled my eyes, "What?"

"He just wants to make you feel bad."

"I want to talk to him." I pushed away from Daddy to show I meant it. Daddy put me down hesitantly and I went over to the man in the cell.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He looked up at me again and shook his head.

I sat down outside his cell, "You're gonna be okay though, right?"

He just shook his head again.

"Daddy, why won't he talk to me?" I called at Daddy.

He came over and pulled out a little stun stick he used to make people tell him things. I hate it when he does that. "Why won't you talk to my son, Rebel?"

I pushed the stun stick away, "Don't hurt him! He's probably just scared!" I turned to the man, "Are you scared?"

He nodded.

"Are you scared of my Daddy?"

He nodded again and looked at the stun stick.

"Are you scared of me?"

He tilted his head and looked at me oddly then he shrugged.

I put my hand on his cheek to wipe away his tears, the way Daddy does when I get hurt. He felt too hot and some blood came off on my hand. I didn't want him to be scared of me.

When that didn't work to stop him from crying, I kissed his cheek. He stared at me in surprise.

"Daddy always does that when I cry," I explained, "I'd hoped it would make you feel better. Is it all better now?"

He smiled slightly and a bit of blood flaked off the edge of his mouth. He nodded a little.

"Are you still scared of me?"

He shook his head and smiled. I smiled too, to show him that I didn't want him to be scared.

"Why won't you talk to me?" I asked curiously.

He opened his mouth and made a small rasp, coughed, and some blood came out. I tried to push it away from his mouth, but Daddy stopped me. When he finished coughing, he started to say something, but his voice was very quiet, so I pulled away from Daddy and listened hard.

"Because when I try to talk that happens, and I'm hard to hear. It hurts too." Then he started coughing again and I moved out of the way. Daddy tried to pull me away, but I grabbed one of the bars of the cell and he gave up.

"Luke, I have to continue the inspection. I will come back for you when I have finished." He started to leave and I called after him.

"Can you let me into his cell? I'd be safer in there."

"Whatever makes you think you would be safer locked in a cell with a rebel?"

"No one could take me and he doesn't have any weapons."

Daddy looked at the rebel in the cell and back at me, "I suppose. If he does anything, just scream and someone will help you."

I nodded and Daddy let me into the cell. Then he grabbed the man and pulled him over to a wall and sat him against it. I followed him and sat next to him. The rebel tried to pull me on to his lap, but he wasn't strong enough, so I crawled on for him. Daddy gave us one more look and pulled something off his belt.

As he handed it to the rebel, I saw that it was a water container, "Here, drink this so you can talk properly. Luke, if he starts coughing, get out of the way."

The rebel took the flask and nodded gratefully. I nodded too and Daddy returned to his work. The rebel's fingers slipped on the lid of the flask as he tried to open it, so I took it and opened it for him. I let him drink some before I started talking again.

"What's your name?" I asked.

The man paused for a moment, "Cliegg Darklighter."

"Really? My name is Luke Skywalker!" I bounced on his knee a bit and he flinched. I stopped right away.

He smiled and his eyes sparkled.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"I disobeyed the Emperor and tried to learn to be a Jedi. Like your daddy told you." Cliegg took another sip of water.

"Why doesn't the Emperor want people to learn to be Jedi? It seems silly."

Cliegg looked at me oddly, "He feels that they would be a threat to his Empire."

I looked up at him, "Why, though? I mean, the Empire is the Old Republic called somethin' different, and they used to protect the Old Republic, didn't they? Why wouldn't they protect the Empire too?"

"The Emperor had your daddy hunt down and kill all the Jedi he could find. He thought they were attempting a coup d'état."

"What's that?"

"A coup d'état is a movement when the people rise up and overthrow a tyrant or leader. Basically, he thought they were plotting against him, so he killed thousands."

"Oh. Why did he think they were plotting against him?"

"That I wouldn't know. I wish I did," he sighed and I put my head on his chest to comfort him.

I could hear his heartbeat. I do that to Daddy too sometimes, but the pattern for him was different. Cliegg's was faster and kinda like a rhythm. He hugged me and I could hear him breathing too. Too fast.

"Are you okay?" I asked again.

"No. Not really, no," he was out of breath again just from the two short sentences.

"What happened? Why are you breathing so fast?" I was worried about him.

"This isn't a very good place to be healthy. I just got sick."

"That means you'll get better then, right?" I looked up at him hopefully.

"I'm not sure. If someone cared enough to give me a chance I might get better. If I stay here, I won't."

"My daddy could help you. He owns the prison. You could come to be with us. You could be safe and you could get better." I wanted him to be happy. I didn't want him to die too. I might have been able to convince Daddy that he owed me for letting my last rebel friend die.

Cliegg smiled sadly and hugged me close, "I don't think your daddy would be too interested in taking me in. Thank you, though."

"But I want you to be happy! I want you to be safe too!"

"Little guy, you can't protect everybody. If you want me to be happy, tell me about living with your daddy."

"Why would that make you happy?" I was confused, wouldn't hearing about something he thought he couldn't have just make him sad?

"Because I never had my own parents. I just want to know what it's like to have a father." He sounded so sad.

"Why didn't you know your parents?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. Maybe I did something wrong. Maybe they didn't want a son. Maybe they didn't even know I'd been born. My father, that is. My mother is dead. Tell me about having a father. Please."

I didn't know where to start. Having Daddy around was so normal that I couldn't imagine him not being there.

"What does he do with you?" Cliegg asked helpfully.

"Well… we play together."

"What do you play?"

"We play with my snake together. He plays starship with me."

"What does he do to play starship?" His voice was so curious it was kinda creepy.

"He spins me around and flies me around with the Force."

"Is it fun? Or does it scare you?"

"It's really fun! I love doing it!" I laughed, he was silly.

"It must be wonderful. What else do you do together?"

"What'd ya mean?" I mean, he feeds me, but that's not very interesting.

"Does he read to you? Does he tuck you in at night? Does he make you laugh?"

"Yes, yes, and yes."

"What does he read you? Is it interesting?"

I put my hand to his mouth, "Wait, wait! Too many questions! Too fast!" He nodded and I pulled my hand away.

"What's your favorite thing to do with him?"

"I like it when he tucks me in and reads to me. Sometimes he makes the stories up. He's really good at telling stories. He tells me about the Jedi sometimes, but don't tell anyone I told you. He says he shouldn't. He also tells me great stories about the rebels, but he said to never tell anyone."

"If he told you not to tell anyone, why are you telling me?"

I tipped my head and looked at him from the new angle. Then I tried another one trying to figure out words to explain it, "You won't tell. I can tell you won't tell. It's like having you look like it, but it's different too." I shrugged. I didn't have the words.

"All right. I'm not sure I understand, but all right. Didn't your Daddy use to wear a life support suit?"

"Yeah, he did. But he got healed. Now he's totally okay." I smiled.

He focused over my head, "Look, here comes your daddy now."

I turned and Daddy was coming. I slipped back into Cliegg's arms and whispered in his ear, "I will make sure Daddy helps you. He'd like you."

I was surprised to feel his chest heave and I heard something like a whimper, "He doesn't want me. Just enjoy having a father and forget you ever met me. Trust me. It's good advice."

Then he brushed my hair away from my forehead and kissed me. He let go of me and sat me on the floor beside me as Daddy opened the door to the cell.

"Hey, Luke. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Daddy asked.

"No! Of course he didn't!"

Cliegg nudged me gently, "I might have. You are technically the son of the enemy."

I laughed, "You're both silly! Daddy, he's nice. Could he come home with us? I get lonely sometimes when we go to Vjun. You wouldn't need to get a babysitter ever again! It would be easier!" I pulled Daddy's sleeve.

"No, Luke. I can't. We can't." I could feel something in the Force. I'd never felt it quite as strongly in anybody else as I felt it in my daddy almost every day. Most people just get it if they break something or whatever, but Daddy sometimes gets it just when he's giving me a snuggle or playing with me. Anyway, he was doing it. Giving me that feeling.

"Why not? Please, Daddy! Please!" I grabbed Cliegg again, "I'm not coming if we don't bring him!"

Cliegg tried to pull me off, "Go with Daddy. I already told you to forget about me. Just go home with your daddy and be glad you have him. Go on."

Daddy stared at him for a moment, then he pried me off. I did my best to hold on, but I wasn't strong enough.

Cliegg passed Daddy his water bottle, "Thank you. I really appreciate it."

I felt the weirdest mix of emotions from them. I really couldn't figure it out. So I just put my arms around Daddy's neck and let him carry me back to our ship.


	2. Chapter 2

"Daddy! Play with me!"

One day later I had almost managed to forget him enough to play normally with my daddy.

Daddy turned to me and I saw something different about his eyes for a moment. They weren't yellow like they get sometimes when he's mad, but they were different.

"Daddy?" I asked.

He shook his head and when he looked back at me they were normal again, "Sorry, Kiddo. I have a lot of work to do right now. Maybe later, okay?"

"But Daddy… I want to play now! You promised you'd always have time for me!" I grabbed his wrist and pulled.

Daddy managed to catch himself before he fell over, but when he looked back at me his eyes were funny again. And he was giving me that feeling. That weird cold-but-warm feeling. I shivered a bit and he scooped me up.

"Sorry, Buddy. I know I did. What do you want to play, then?"

"Play starship!" I bounced eagerly.

Daddy closed his eyes and used the Force to make me fly around the room. I laughed and started doing somersaults and flips in his grasp. Daddy laughed too and sent me flying around erratically. First I almost spun into one wall, then the next. Each time he would turn me sharply before I could get hurt.

Finally he flew me back down to land in his arms. We both laughed for a few moments. Then he stopped laughing suddenly and he started giving me the feeling again.

"Daddy," I said, in my most serious tone, "Something is wrong. What is it?"

"Nothing's wrong, Kiddo. Don't worry about it." Daddy kissed my forehead.

"You're lying to me. Daddy, what's wrong? C'mon, I need to know! I want you to be happy!"

"You want everyone to be happy, Luke. I'm sorry, my son, but it just can't be done. I will be all right and in the meantime you can go play. Just don't worry about it."

"Daddy! It's making you sad and I'm worried about it!" Daddy wasn't listening to me. He always listens to me!

"I'm sorry it's upsetting you Luke. Why don't you go play with your droids?"

"I wanna play with YOU!"

"Look, Luke. You have your whole life to play with me, just not right now. Okay?" Daddy started working again.

"I wish you weren't my daddy! I wish my daddy really cared about me! You're so mean! I wish I was an orphan!" I didn't really mean it. It just came out.

Daddy spun at me angrily, "Oh, you wish you were an orphan, do you? You wish I wasn't your daddy? You think I'm mean, do you? Well, I guess you weren't really listening to that rebel yesterday. Did he tell you that not having parents is fun? Didn't he tell you to enjoy having a father because it's much worse if you don't? Don't you think he'd be offended if he saw you acting like this? If I were in his position I would think you were a spoiled little brat!"

I sat down suddenly and started crying silently. I hadn't thought about it that way. I'd just wanted to play with my daddy. Cliegg would have hated me for acting like that. He _would_ have thought that I was a spoiled brat. I'd tried to be his friend. What kind of friend was I? I gasped a bit and Daddy looked away from his work and noticed I was crying.

"Oh, Force. Luke, I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!" He bent down and scooped me up and hugged me. "Luke, it's okay! I'm sorry, I just talked without thinking! I love you. You're perfect. Don't cry, please don't cry. I'll play with you if you want."

"No! You're right! Cliegg would be so mad if he knew! He would hate me!" I put my arms around Daddy's neck and cried on his shoulder as he tried to comfort me.

"Luke, it's okay! Cliegg wouldn't hate you, he's a Jedi and they don't get those feelings. It's okay. I promise. Even if it would have made him hate you, I promise I wouldn't have told him." Daddy put his nose in my hair and breathed out, tickling me and making me giggle through the tears.

"Promise?" I sniffled.

"Promise." Daddy gave me another hug.

"Is Cliegg okay?" I asked. I was really, really worried about my new friend after what had happened to the first one.

"Yes. Thus far, Darklighter is all right."

"What does 'thus far' mean?" Daddy was using his big words again.

"So far, Darklighter is all right." Daddy said.

"You mean that he won't stay all right?" I asked nervously.

"Darklighter is a criminal and an enemy of the Empire. He will be dealt with appropriately." Daddy was giving me that weird feeling again.

"Daddy, how do you feel?" I asked, determined to find out what that feeling meant.

"I feel fine, why? Do you feel bad?"

"Yeah. I feel bad coming from you. Something's making you sad. What's wrong?"

"What do you mean by 'bad coming from me'?"

"Something's making you sad. It happens all the time, but it was most yesterday. When we were with Cliegg. Does he make you sad?"

"In a way he does make me sad. It's unfortunate that anyone could go that wrong." Daddy looked out a window over my head.

"He doesn't make you sad like that! He makes you sad the way most people get sad if they break something or whatever." I put my head on his chest and instantly knew that I'd been right about Cliegg's heartbeat. Daddy's was much slower and more regular.

"You mean like guilt?"

"Is that what it's called?" I tipped my head to one side, the way Daddy does sometimes. He says it's something he still does from when no-one could see his face.

"I think so."

"Okay. Why does Cliegg make you guilt?"

Daddy laughed, "I think you mean 'why does he make me _guilty'_."

"You're doing it again. Why does he make you guilty?" Daddy was avoiding my question again.

"I don't think he does. He's just another rebel, Luke."

"Now you're lying to me!"

"I'm not lying!"

"Yes you are! You're lying and you're lying about that you're lying too!"

"Okay, okay, Luke. You're right. I'm sorry. Cliegg was my apprentice once. I did an astoundingly bad job of taking care of him. I failed him. He was my responsibility. And I failed him."

This felt mostly true. Daddy was giving me the 'guilt' feeling again. But one thing still didn't feel right, "What's 'apprentice'?"

"Having an apprentice is kind of similar to being a parent, but you're trusted with teaching the child as well. Clearly I failed if he's now a rebel."

"Oh. Didja love him?"

"Yes." Daddy rubbed my back a little.

"But you're leaving him in jail? Would you do that to me if I messed up?" I hoped he wouldn't. Jail was a scary place.

"I would never leave you there. I had to leave Cliegg. My master said I can't help him. He told me to forget about him. In a way, he let me have you in my life as something like a reward for leaving him. He demanded that I take you to see him yesterday."

"Oh. You still love him, don't you?"

"No." Daddy said loudly. He was finished talking about that. I slipped out of his arms and went to go play with my droids like he'd told me to.


	3. Chapter 3

"Luke, come here." Daddy stood in the door of my room. I rolled over in bed and blinked at him sleepily.

"G'morning."

"Good morning, Luke. We're going to the prison again." He came over and picked me up out of bed.

"Oh. Okay, why?"

"My master said I had to take you again."

"Okay. Can I see Cliegg again?" I asked as Daddy helped me put my coat on.

"I would assume that that's why he told me to take you." Daddy smiled and took my hand to lead me out to his ship.

I smiled and jumped onto the co-pilot's chair. Daddy started the ship and held something out to me.

"I thought that you might want to take something for Cliegg." He explained. I opened it. It was just a small lunch box with some food in it.

"Oh. Okay." I closed the box again and stared out the viewport at the star-streaks.

Daddy was quiet for the flight. After a while I curled up on my seat and fell asleep.

"Luke, Luke, wake up." Daddy shook me gently, "We're here."

I blinked out the viewport at the grey skies of the prison world. Then I slid off my chair and stumbled as I tried to walk to the boarding ramp. Daddy caught me and picked me up.

"Thanks," I mumbled and put my head on his shoulder.

"My pleasure, Luke." Daddy laughed in my ear.

I stared at the other rebel prisoners as Daddy carried me in, but most of them just looked away from me when they noticed I was looking at them. Finally I heard Daddy open the door to a cell and I turned around.

Cliegg was curled on the floor in one dark corner. When he heard us come in, he looked up a little bit. When he saw my daddy, he turned away and tried to hide something. As he moved, he saw me and smiled a little bit.

Daddy put me down beside Cliegg and left the cell.

"Hello, Cliegg. Are you okay?"

He shook his head and I remembered about his throat. I opened the little box and held out a water bottle. "Are you thirsty?"

Cliegg coughed for a few moments before he managed to ask, "Would you open it, please?"

I did, and he took it. He moved it jerkily to his mouth and I saw that he was using his wrong hand.

"It'll be easier if you use your other hand," I said.

Cliegg shook his head slightly so I helped guide the water to his mouth. He drank a bit then moved the bottle away from his mouth again. He tried to push himself up against the wall so he could sit up.

"Are you better now?" I asked.

"If you mean am I better than I was last time you were here, then, no. If you mean am I better than before you gave me the water, then, yes."

"Do you want something to eat?" I asked, holding out a nutrition bar from the lunch box.

"Yes, please," Cliegg took the bar from my hand and opened it with his teeth. I sat and watched as he ate it.

"Why aren't you using your other hand?" I asked.

Cliegg tried to hide his other arm, "No reason."

"That's not true. Show me your arm." I held out one hand and waited.

"You don't want to see it, Luke."

"Yes I do. Give me your arm."

Cliegg sighed and moved his arm into view. He had been right. I hadn't really wanted to see it. It was disgusting. I could see his bone in some places. I couldn't recognise any skin. I reached out and touched it. He gritted his teeth so he didn't scream, but I felt him hurt.

"Why?" I asked. I didn't know why anyone would do that to anyone else.

"Because I disobeyed the Emperor. Please don't touch it again."

I nodded numbly. Daddy worked for the Emperor. What if the Emperor got mad at him and hurt him like that? I didn't like anyone to get hurt. I looked back into the little box and realized that there was something other than the food in it. I pulled out a long bandage and held it out to Cliegg.

"Would you like me to make it better?" I asked.

He nodded and gritted his teeth again as I tried to bandage his wound. As I tried, my hand kept slipping and he cried out a few times.

"Luke! What…? Give me that," Daddy ran back into the cell. He took the bandage from me and unwound it from Cliegg's arm.

"Luke, come watch. I'll show you how to do it." Daddy carefully started to bind Cliegg's arm in the bandage. I watched as he carefully hid the bloody wound. Cliegg would moan occasionally, so I took his other hand in mine and held it tightly.

When Daddy was done he stood again and started to leave the cell.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm going to continue the inspection. Where else would I be going?" he asked.

"Well, I thought you said you'd come back when it was time to go."

"I came back when I heard your friend screaming. Force, Luke. You should have waited and let me do it."

"How could you have heard him? You were way that way!" I pointed. I had no idea where exactly he had been, but it had been far enough that he couldn't have heard Cliegg's quiet sobs.

"I heard him. I have to continue the inspection now, if you'll excuse me." Daddy snapped and left the cell.

When Daddy was far enough away that I thought he wouldn't hear I turned to Cliegg, "How did he know?"

"Force sensitives have better hearing than most people."

"But he was way, _way_ that way!" I said.

"He probably felt my pain. He is fairly attuned to my Force signature. It comes of having chased and hunted me for years."

"He said you were his apprentice."

"I was never his apprentice. He wanted me to be. That was why he was chasing me."

"But he said…" I was confused.

"I was never his apprentice." Cliegg insisted.

"Okay… then why did he tell me that you were?" I almost asked why Daddy would have told me that he loved Cliegg when he hadn't even known him, but I decided that it would be mean.

"He wanted me to be his apprentice. He might have just thought that you wouldn't understand that."

"Daddy never lies to me because he thinks I wouldn't understand the truth! He tells me complicated stuff all the time! He would have told me!"

"Well, then, I have no idea. I wouldn't understand the way parents interact with their children under normal circumstances."

"Do you want your parents?" I asked.

"Yes. I miss them. Even though I never knew them, I miss them. I wish they had raised me. I wish that when I get out of jail they'd be waiting for me."

Something about the last part of the sentence didn't feel the way it sounded. I remembered to ask Daddy about it later.

"I wish your parents were keeping you safe too. I wish you were happy." I pressed against his side and he put his working arm around me.

I yawned a bit and he smiled at me, "Do you need some sleep, Luke?"

"Yeah, I didn't really sleep much last night." I yawned again and he put his bandaged arm around me too.

"Go to sleep then. I won't hurt you. Sleep."

"Don't you want to talk?"

He laughed and the sound it made was really rough, "I don't think I'll gain a lot from a conversation with you when you're half asleep."

"Okay," I yawned again and he kissed my forehead. I snuggled closer to his side and fell asleep again.


	4. Chapter 4

When I woke up, I was back in my bed at home. I lay there for a few minutes. Then I crawled out of bed and stumbled sleepily down the hall to the kitchen for breakfast. Daddy was sitting at the table with a data pad and he laughed slightly when he saw me coming.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. You have the worst case of bedhead I've ever seen." He put down the data pad and stood up. He came over and hugged me then ran one hand over my hair trying to make it lie at least somewhat flat.

"Good morning, Daddy. I'm hungry," I was too. My stomach was growling and I realized that I hadn't eaten since before going to see Cliegg.

"I'm sure you are. You just slept for almost thirty hours straight. What made you so sleepy?"

I shrugged, "I dunno. Why didn't you wake me up so I could say goodbye to Cliegg?"

"I tried, Kiddo. You were fast asleep."

"What's for breakfast?"

"What would you like?"

"Anything. I'm really hungry."

Daddy passed me an apple and started making something for breakfast. I crawled onto one of the chairs and ate my apple.

"Luke. Luke, wake up." Daddy shook my shoulder gently.

"Daddy?" I blinked.

"Luke, do you feel all right?"

"Yeah, I think so. Why?"

"You don't normally sleep this much, Luke. I just thought you might be sick or something. Are you ready to eat now?"

"Yes! Please," I added.

Daddy smiled and returned to the kitchen. He came back with two plates of food for us. He passed me one and sat down with the other. I ate quickly then started yawning again.

"Luke, are you sure that you're all right?"

"My arm hurts," I had just noticed.

"Really?" Daddy started being scared. He jumped up and ran around the table to look at my arm. I held it out to him. "This is the same arm that Cliegg was hurt on, wasn't it?" Daddy asked.

"Yeah it was." As I said it, my arm started to hurt way more. I started to cry and Daddy held me close.

"Luke, are you okay?"

"No! It hurts!" I started to cry harder.

"Luke, listen to me. Is there one place that hurts more than the rest of your arm?" Daddy held my face still.

I nodded and pointed to one place where the skin had been pulled away from the bone on Cliegg. Instantly, the pain got way, _way_ worse and I started screaming. Daddy picked me up and carried me to the medicine cupboard. He pulled out a syringe and I tried to pull away.

"No, Luke. Don't try to hide from the needle; it's going to make the pain stop. It'll just slip under your skin, just a little prick, and then it'll be over, okay?"

I whimpered and nodded. Daddy pushed the needle under my skin and everything went dark. I just heard Daddy say, "You'll wake back up soon," before I passed out.

When I did wake up, I was curled in bed. I didn't hurt anymore, but Daddy wasn't there either.

_Luke?_ Daddy's voice called through the Force.

_Daddy? Where are you? Am I gonna be okay?_

_You'll be fine, I'll be home soon. Stay in bed._

_Can I get something to play with?_

_As long as it wouldn't require you to move too much. Just stay as still as possible, okay?_

_Okay._

_I'll be home soon, then. Take it easy._

Daddy stopped calling me through the Force and I crawled out of bed to find a toy to play with. I chose a little video game and crawled back into bed to play with it. I had managed to play almost one complete round before I fell asleep again.

I woke up again in a few hours and picked the game back up. This time I managed to stay awake because I could feel Daddy getting close. I heard him come in the door, finally, and I wanted to run to meet him, after all, I felt fine now, but Daddy had said not to. So I curled up under the covers and waited for him.

As he came up the stairs I started to sense something else too. As he entered my room the feeling got really strong. I looked up from my game and saw that he was holding Cliegg in his arms. My friend was limp and bleeding from a cut in his forehead.

"Is he okay?"

"He will be," Daddy carried him over to my bed and sat next to me. He carefully rested Cliegg's head on his shoulder and his eyes opened weakly.

"Luke?" his voice was so small. He started coughing and Daddy carefully held up one hand and wiped away the blood, then wiped his hand on his pants.

"You're going to be all right, I promise. Don't give up." Daddy told Cliegg.

Cliegg nodded weakly. Daddy carefully rested him on the bed beside me. I sat up and looked at him again. Some jerk had taken off the bandages Daddy had given him. His hair was even more full of blood. He smiled at me a bit when he saw my worry.

"I'll be okay, Luke," he moaned.

"Promise?"

Daddy moved me on to his lap, "I promise I won't let anything hurt your friend. Sleep now, both of you. I'll explain everything tomorrow."

I nodded and Daddy picked up Cliegg.

"Would you like to kiss him goodnight, Luke?"

I sat up and kissed Cliegg's cheek, "Goodnight, Cliegg."

Daddy carried Cliegg out and in the direction of his own room. I listened as Daddy took him some food and water. Then I heard a door close and I could just hear the murmur of their voices. I tried to listen in on them for a few minutes, but they were too quiet and I was tired. I went to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

"Luke, wake up. It's time for breakfast." Daddy shook my shoulder then gathered me up in his arms. I expected him to take me to the table in the kitchen, but instead he carried me to his room.

Cliegg was sitting against the headboard of Daddy's bed and he smiled as Daddy carried me in. Daddy had given him new bandages and given him a bath.

"Are you okay?" I asked as Daddy put me on the bed and I scrambled over to Cliegg.

"I will be now, I think. Do you feel better now?" he put one arm around me and drew me close.

"Yeah. All better," I cuddled him the way I had last time I saw him.

Daddy smiled at us and left to get food. When he was gone, Cliegg turned to me, "Thank you, Luke. I owe you everything."

I blushed, "I didn't want you to get hurt."

"I know."

Daddy came back into the room to find me and Cliegg hugging each other. He smiled at us and put down the tray of food he was carrying. He passed each of us some food.

"Boys, I need to talk to my master about this, okay?"

We nodded.

"Good. I'll be back as soon as possible. And try not to smother each other with hugs _too_ much." He smiled at us and left the room.

I snuggled against Cliegg as we ate and he kept his hurt arm around me. He couldn't use it, I guess.

When Daddy got back, I was almost asleep under Cliegg's arm. He pulled me out and kissed my forehead.

"Wake up, Kiddo. You can sleep when I've explained all this."

That woke me up. Some people think that five year olds aren't smart enough to figure out when something's weird, but a baby would have known something was weird here. I hate it when people think I'm stupid just because I'm younger than they are. Anyway, I couldn't wait to hear what the heck was making me so tired.

"Luke, when you met Cliegg, you started to be friends pretty fast, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you knew that he was Force sensitive, didn't you?"

"Yep, I told you he was Force sensitive!"

"That's right. You did. Well, when you bonded like that, you started to form a Force bond too. Cliegg tried to keep you safe from his pain, which you were opening yourself to, for as long as possible, but at first you started to feel his sleep deprivation. Then, last night, the pain got to be too much for him and you started to feel it. When I asked you if your arm that hurt was the same one I had treated on him, you thought about his pain and opened yourself to it more. Do you follow so far?"

I nodded. It was kinda confusing, but I think I understood.

"So, when I saw that he had been tortured like that I had a suspicion that you might start feeling his pain. Last night, I just gave you a strong sedative so that you could sleep through the pain while I eliminated it at the source of the problem, Cliegg's pain. Do you still understand?"

"Yeah."

"That's about it. Now Cliegg's here and I won't have to torture him. My master says that I can't continue to treat him as a second son, but that he can stay here."

"What's gonna happen to him, then?" I asked.

"I will have a cell built for him," Daddy saw the look on my face and added, "Because my master said that he had to be in a cell. We're not allowed to feed him properly, and his cell can't be furnished in any way. I'm sorry, but at least he won't be tortured."

"I want him to stay with me! I want him to be happy!" I crawled across the bed to cling to him again.

"I know you do, Luke."

Cliegg held me close, "I'll be all right, Luke. Your daddy's right, it's an improvement on where I was. Don't be worried about me. We can talk whenever you want to. It won't be so bad."

"But…"

"I'll do everything I can to change my master's mind about this, I promise." Daddy hugged me close, but I knew that he was looking over me at Cliegg. "In the meantime, I'm sorry, but Cliegg will have to stay in a cell."

I pressed my face against Cliegg again, but I could tell that he had accepted it already.

"You're sure you're gonna be okay, right?"

"Of course I'm sure. If you ever worry about me you can just come to my cell and check on me. Okay?"

"I guess…" I didn't want anything to change. I liked the way things were this morning. But if Daddy said that his master had said he had to then he had to.

"Don't be so sad, Luke. Cliegg can stay with you until we get the cell built."

"I guess that's better," I put my arms around Cliegg to protect him.

"It'll be okay," he said and I knew he thought I was being silly. He hugged me back.

Daddy talked to some guys about getting the cell built, and I stayed with Cliegg. He played with me as much as he could with one arm in bandages. We watched a holo-vid together. We tried to play another board game together, but I guess we fell asleep, because I woke up in bed the next day.


	6. Chapter 6

"Daddy!" I called down to my dad.

"What do you need, Luke? I'm kind of busy!" Daddy called from downstairs.

I didn't know what I wanted. I just wanted to know he was still here. I crawled out of bed to see what he was doing. I wish I hadn't. I wish I'd just curled up and gone back to sleep. He was building the cell for Cliegg. Cliegg was curled in a ball on the floor beside him, and he was hurt.

"Daddy! Why'd you hurt him?" I ran to hug him and kiss it better.

Daddy turned to me, "It wasn't me, Luke. My master came by to see that I wasn't bonding with him and he tortured Cliegg. I'm sorry, both of you." He looked at the floor and I knew he really meant it.

I sat down beside Cliegg, but I still felt like I was too far over him. So I curled up next to him so I could look at his eyes. He smiled a bit and pulled me close like I hug my teddy.

"Thanks for caring, Luke. It means a lot to me. I love you," he whispered in my hair.

"I love you too. You're like my big brother!" I told him. I didn't feel like I had to keep my voice quiet and both of them got that feeling again! It makes me mad because I don't know what it means! It's the one Daddy called guilt.

"Thank you, Luke." Cliegg gave me a little squeeze before relaxing his arms and closing his eyes. I looked up at Daddy and he had gone back to working, but he was still giving me the feeling. I decided to pretend I couldn't feel it and snuggle with Cliegg some more.

He didn't seem to mind. After a few minutes, though, I got bored of just lying there. I sat up and pulled Cliegg up too. He leaned on the wall and I stood up. I tried to pull him up too, but I wasn't strong enough. When Daddy noticed what I was doing, he turned around.

"Luke, don't do that. He has to stay here." Daddy pulled me away.

"Why? I want him to come play with me!" I pulled away from Daddy and tried to help Cliegg to his feet.

"No, Luke. Daddy's not allowed to let me out of the cell if he doesn't know exactly where I am." Cliegg pulled his hand back.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because Master said so," Daddy answered and went back to his building.

"Why do you gotta do everything he says?"

"Because I owe him my life. Don't ask about that, Luke." Daddy said shortly.

"Okay, okay, it just isn't fair." I glared at Daddy's back and curled up against Cliegg again.

We watched Daddy working for a few hours before Daddy heard my tummy rumbling.

"Luke, why didn't you tell me you were hungry?" he asked.

"I didn't wanna be a problem. I'm okay," I was lying. I was really hungry.

"Luke, we've talked about lying. Come on, let's get some food in you." Daddy came over and picked me up. Then he put me back down on my feet and helped Cliegg to his feet. Cliegg moaned softly and put his arms around Daddy's neck. Daddy kept him up with one arm and took my hand in his other.

Daddy led us into the kitchen and put Cliegg on the counter, resting his back on the wall. Then he boosted me up beside him. I snuggled Cliegg to keep him warm while Daddy made breakfast. Cliegg gets cold easy so he doesn't mind me snuggling him whenever I want to. I like that about him. Daddy gets annoyed sometimes.

Daddy pulled the food out of the oven and gave me a plastic bowlful. He passed one to Cliegg too with a wink and the words, "Don't tell Palpatine, huh?"

I smiled and nodded. Daddy almost never jokes, but I love it when he does. It makes me feel all warm and good inside. I love him and I don't like how sad he is all the time.

Cliegg nodded gratefully and started to eat slowly. I watched his face and I saw him crying a bit. I felt really bad about it because he wouldn't get breakfast tomorrow. And I would. I didn't want to be treated better than him. He was like my big brother.

"You can call my daddy 'Daddy' if you want. If you're my big brother, he's your Daddy too." I had just decided. Daddy was my daddy, but he could be Cliegg's daddy too.

"But I'm not your brother, so that doesn't work." He protested.

"You're like my brother. So he's like your daddy." I repeated.

"All right. If you're sure," Cliegg gave me a funny, sad smile and he and Daddy started giving me the feeling again.

I nodded, and then yawned again. Daddy turned to me right away, "If you're tired, go ahead and sleep. You and Cliegg will both be sleep deprived for a while yet."

I nodded again and put my head on Cliegg's shoulder. The last thing I knew was that Daddy was carrying me back to my room.

When I woke up, I didn't have a clue what time it was. I crawled out of bed and walked to the door. When I opened it, everything was dark. _It must be late. I should go back to bed. Daddy'd say that just 'cause I'm sleeping all day doesn't mean that I shouldn't sleep at night._

I started to go back to bed, but my room looked really dark. It was all shadowy and scary. I couldn't sleep in there. Not when I could see the shadow of a rancor on the wall. I ran down to the kitchen and saw something dark in the corner.

I screamed and it sat up. I screamed louder and it started to come towards me.

"Shh, Luke. You're going to wake Daddy." It was Cliegg. Daddy hade finished the cell and left him in it. I slipped through the bars and went to him.

"I had a nightmare, can I snuggle you?" I asked in a small voice so the monster in my bedroom couldn't hear me.

"Of course you can. Come here, Luke." He reached out to me and I lay down and curled up. He hugged me and his hand touched my cheek, "Have you been crying?"

"No!" I shook my head hard, but I sniffled too.

"Don't be scared to cry. Go ahead and let it out. It'll be easier than trying to hide it. I don't mind at all." He brushed the tears that were already on my cheeks away.

I sniffled again, and then decided he was right. I burst into tears and he held me.

"Why did you come down here? Why didn't you get Daddy to snuggle you, you'd have been more comfortable."

"Daddy doesn't like to get woken up at night. Sometimes his eyes go yellow at first. It's scary. Almost scarier than the monster in my room." I pushed the tears away and buried my face against him.

"Of course. Any time you need a hug, feel free to come down here."

"Are you telling me to go back to bed?" I asked. I didn't want to. The monster was still in my room.

"No, of course not. You can snuggle as long as you need to. Don't be scared. When the sun comes in your window tomorrow the monster will shrivel up and die."

"Really? Why?"

"Monsters can't stand light. It dries them up like puddles in the sun. If you keep a flashlight near your bed you can scare the monsters away whenever you need to. Then you'll always be safe in your room."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"What if the monster's in the closet? Or under my bed?" Monsters would hide in places that are hard to make light if light kills them.

"If a monster hides under your bed, you can just look over the edge and shine the light under. If it's in the closet you can shine the light through the gap in the doors. Even just a little bit of light is enough."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"I can still stay with you tonight, though? A monster might get me when I'm going to get a flashlight."

"Of course, there's safety in numbers too. As long as you're with someone else, monsters aren't dangerous. That's why teddies make us feel safer."

"Really?"

"Really. Don't worry about monsters. Get some sleep."

"Okay," I cuddled closer to him and closed my eyes. I was just starting to go to sleep when I heard Daddy.

"Good morning, Luke."

I sat up and for a second I thought he was surprised. Then he was normal again. He turned on the light and killed all the monsters in the kitchen. I thought I could hear them drying up. After a few seconds, I decided it would be safe to come out.

I crawled out of Cliegg's arms and slipped through the bars of the cell. Daddy picked me up and out me on the counter. I heard Cliegg yawning again and I started to feel tired again too. I curled up on the counter and started to go back to sleep.

Almost right away, Daddy woke me back up. He leaned me on the wall and put a plate of food in my hands. Then he went to Cliegg and pushed what was left after he'd served us into a little pet food bowl inside his cell.

"I thought you weren't allowed to feed him."

"I'm not allowed to feed him properly. I can feed him leftovers if I want to," Daddy held up a little needle, "This is how he'll get the rest of his nutrients."

He walked over and opened Cliegg's cell. He walked to Cliegg and sat down on his heels. He pulled back Cliegg's sleeve and carefully pushed the needle into his arm. Cliegg moaned a bit, but I didn't feel like it'd hurt too much.

Daddy pushed the bowl of food towards Cliegg and came back to me. He picked me up off the counter and carried me to the table. Then he went back to get our food.

We ate quietly and when we were done, Daddy stood up, "I have to go grocery shopping, okay? You guys can keep each other safe."

I nodded and he left to go to the garage. I like going flying with him, but I didn't want Cliegg to be lonely. Jail must have been really lonely. I wouldn't want my home to become jail for him.

"Would you play a game with me?" I asked.

"Would you like me to show you how to protect your entire room against monsters?" Cliegg smiled at me.

"Okay! What do we need?" I jumped off my chair, not tired at all anymore.

"We can do it with a durasheet and pencils. Oh, and a count of the lights in your room."

I ran upstairs to get the supplies and count the lights in my room. When I got back, Cliegg was already tracing an invisible picture on the floor of his cell with one finger. He looked up when he saw me coming.

I slipped through the bars of the cell and dropped my armload of durasheet and drawing materials. Cliegg came over and pulled out a piece and a pencil.

"Okay, come here."

I went over.

"This is more or less the shape of your room, right?"

"Right. The window is there," I said, pointing. The window seemed like a fairly big light source.

"Good," he drew it in, "Where in the ceiling is your light?"

"There. I've got one on the wall here and lamps here, here, an' here too." I pointed to each spot on his picture.

"Okay, where is the light switch?"

"Here, by the door."

Cliegg stared at his picture for a moment, "Your bed is here, right?" he drew it in.

"Yep, my desk is there, and the closet's over there," I grabbed a pencil out of the mess to and added them.

"All right. If you tie a string between here and here, here and here, and the window, you can open them easily. That'll work if it's bright out, but that's not the worst time for monsters. If you prop a kitchen chair here, tie a string to it, and tape the end of the string to the light switch, you can pull the middle of the string to open the door and turn on the lights."

"Okay, could you get those ones on too?" I pointed to some lights that weren't hooked up yet.

"Yeah, let me see…" Cliegg tapped the plans for a few moments. "Here, add a string here, as a trip wire for monsters. When they pull it as they bump it, it turns on this light. That lights the room up enough for you to get out of bed and manually turn on the last lights."

"Okay. Wanna come build it?"

"I can't, Luke. I'm not allowed to leave the cell. You can build it with your daddy when he gets back." He rolled up the plans. "Would you like to do some drawing together?" he held up a couple of new pieces of durasheet.

"I wanna build the monster trap with you," I begged.

"We can't. I'm sorry. Trust me, I want to too. Let's do some drawing."

"But- I wanna- please? You could slip out like I do!"

"I could, but it would be wrong. I might get your daddy hurt. You saw what happens when people make Palpatine mad," he moved his arm so I could see it. Daddy had given him bacta, so it wasn't as bad, but I could still remember it. I didn't want that to happen to Daddy.

"Sorry. Can I have some paper?" I held out one hand for the paper. Cliegg smiled at me and passed me the paper.

We drew together for a few hours until Daddy got back. I jumped up and ran to him with my latest drawing.

"Daddy! Daddy! We're drawing! Do you like it?"

Daddy shifted one of the bags of groceries he was carrying so he could see me, "Just a moment, Luke. Let me put some of this down, kay?"

"Okay!" I ran around behind him and tacked like an old-fashioned sailing boat.

Daddy put the groceries on the counter and turned to smile at me. I had finished being a boat and become a fighter running in circles with my arms spread. Hearing Daddy laughing, Cliegg looked up and started laughing too. I decided that fighters were supposed to fly and jumped at Daddy. He grabbed my wrists and started to spin me.

Daddy set me back down and I held my picture up to him.

"It's beautiful, Luke."

"It's a bantha-dewback." I told him. It was a new creature I'd made up. Cliegg had tried to show me how to draw a bantha, but it had come out too smooth and he'd said that it was a bantha-dewback.

"It's a wonderful bantha-dewback. Does it have a name?"

"No. It's just a bantha-dewback. My bantha-dewback."

"Oh, is it a happy bantha-dewback?"

"Yeah."

"What makes it a happy bantha-dewback?"

"It's got its friends and it's not hungry. He's a safe bantha-dewback."

"Would you like me to build you a bantha-dewback? I could make a little robot one. It could keep Snakey company when he gets back from the vet."

"Yeah! Could you make it this big?" I asked, holding one hand at my waist to show the height I wanted.

"If I'm going to make it that big I might as well make it big enough to ride. Would you like that?"

"Yeah! But riding a droid'd hurt, wouldn't it?"

"Not if I make a variation of an HRD. It'll be like that, but you can ride it."

"Oh, okay!" I nodded eagerly and went back to drawing with Cliegg. Daddy headed down to the garage again to get pieces. He came back up a few minutes later with some parts. He put them on the table and went back for more. When almost all the table was covered in bits and pieces, Daddy got his toolkit and started working on the droid.

Cliegg and I made lots of other kinds of animal. He'd seen all kinds. He drew ones he'd seen and after I accidentally messed up a couple more, I started making new animals for fun.

Daddy had finished assembling a big part of droid before he looked at a clock in surprise, "Congratulations, you two, you've managed to stay awake almost twelve hours. Let's not push it, though. Bedtime, Luke. You might want to get some sleep too, Cliegg."

Daddy opened the cell and picked me up. "Daddy, can we give Cliegg a blanket? Please? It's not really furniture. Please? He gets cold easy!"

"I suppose that would be all right. I'll give him a blanket when you're in bed." He carried me up to bed and tucked me in. I heard him open the hall closet to get a blanket. Then I curled up and went to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

I was sitting at the table in the kitchen eating breakfast and playing twenty questions with Cliegg when Daddy said that I was going to have a babysitter.

"Minera- but Daddy, Cliegg can keep me safe! I don't need a babysitter!" I interrupted myself.

"Luke, Cliegg is in a cell. If something attacked you he couldn't protect you. No offence, Cliegg, but he couldn't protect himself."

"None taken," Cliegg added.

"So you're having a babysitter." Daddy said firmly.

"But I hate my babysitter! He's strict and he doesn't understand me!"

"I know you don't like him. I hired another person to do it today. And this time I want you to avoid lighting a fire, okay? That might be why your other babysitter won't let you in the kitchen anymore."

"I didn't know that'd happen," I said under my breath.

"Luke, it is common sense that if you stick something flammable near flame it will catch fire."

"I just wanted to know for sure!"

"Right. This argument is over. The babysitter will be here any moment. And I don't want any more complaints; it's your pet I'm going to get."

"Snakey's all better now?"

"He should be."

"What happened to your snake?" Cliegg asked.

"Luke has been feeding his snake vegetables instead of the mice he's supposed to feed it. That's not exactly a recommended diet and the snake is somewhat ill. It's been at the vet since you arrived."

"Oh, I was wondering what had happened." Cliegg nodded.

Then the doorbell rang and Daddy went to get it. I slid off my chair and through the bars of Cliegg's cell. He hugged me when I got to him and I pulled some more paper out of the pile that was slowly growing as I brought more down every day.

Cliegg took one too and he started to draw again. I heard the sitter coming up the stairs and promptly tuned him out.

"Luke! What are you doing in that cell?" The sitter said from behind me.

"I'm drawing pictures, what does it look like I'm doing?" I asked rudely.

"It looks to me like you're consorting with a dangerous rebel. Get out of there right now."

"Daddy doesn't mind when I play with Cliegg. Daddy, please tell him you don't mind." I said, still not turning around.

"Your daddy has already left, Luke. Come out right now."

"No. I'm staying here."

"Don't make me get you out." He threatened.

"I'm telling Daddy you threatened me."

"If that's how this is going to work, then I'll tell your daddy that you wouldn't listen to me. And that you were consorting with this scum."

"Thanks a lot," Cliegg said in a hurt voice.

"Don't listen to him, Cliegg. He's a jerk." I said.

"That does it, Kid. Out you come." He unlocked the cell door and dragged me out. I bit him. He deserved it. Sadly, he didn't notice.

"Stay out of here," he said as he locked the cell again.

I darted back through the bars, but he caught the back of my shirt. He dragged me out again.

"If you won't be mature enough to do what I say, I'll have to hold you down and not let you move at all. Stay out of that cell. Would your mommy and daddy want you to act like this?"

That was mean. He knew I didn't have a mommy. He must have. I started to cry.

"Stop being stupid, Luke. You can't play with the rebel."

I started to cry harder and I heard Cliegg say something to the sitter, but I was crying too hard to hear what he was saying. The sitter screamed at him and tried to hug me. That was not okay. He was such a jerk! Only Daddy and Cliegg are allowed to hug me. I started screaming louder.

Daddy doesn't like it when I get like this. It makes him sad. So I try not to do it. But I'm not perfect. Nobody's perfect. And he wasn't here so it couldn't make him hurt.

I heard Cliegg's cell lock click and I knew that he'd used the Force to let himself out so he could make me feel better. The sitter let me go right away. I started trying to stop crying, but then I turned to see the sitter punch Cliegg's nose.

"Stop! Stop, stop, stop!" I screamed louder.

The sitter didn't seem to hear me. He started punching and kicking any part of Cliegg he could reach. Which was a lot because he was bigger to start with.

That's what Daddy saw when he got back, me starting to gather the Force to throw things at the sitter, who was sitting on Cliegg's chest, twisting his hurt arm. Cliegg was lying on the floor screaming in agony and begging the sitter to let go.

When Daddy saw what was happening everything froze and it took me a second to realize that he had stopped everything with the Force.

"Lieutenant, release the prisoner. Luke, let those drop. Do it now." When Daddy gets really mad, he sometimes gets really quiet which is scarier than screaming. I dropped the things I was holding. The sitter let Cliegg go. Cliegg moaned and pulled away.

Daddy put the things I'd been holding back down and stepped farther into the room. Wrapped around his right wrist was my snake. I went to get it. Daddy held his arm down and Snakey crawled on to my arm. Then Daddy walked to where the sitter had been hurting Cliegg.

"What were you thinking, Sunber? Why did you hurt them like this?" Daddy knelt down and helped Cliegg sit up. His nose was bloody.

"The boy wanted to be with him and wouldn't listen to me. Then _he_ let himself out of his cell to hurt the boy." He said the 'he' like it was the worst insult he could think of. I went to Cliegg to hug him better.

"Luke?" Daddy turned to me.

"I just wanted to play with Cliegg. He wasn't trying to hurt me. He was trying to make it better when the sitter hurt me. Then the sitter hurt him. I was trying to protect him."

"Cliegg, what do you think happened?" Daddy turned to Cliegg again.

"Exactly what Luke said. But I don't think that it's quite fair to Janek. He didn't know what I was doing. I should have explained."

"He wouldn't have let you. And he hurt you, so I don't care what he was thinking." I scowled at the sitter.

Daddy looked at all of us, and then he turned to the sitter, "I won't need your services anymore. You should head home."

"Don't just let him go! Kill him! Cut him up with your lightsaber!" I said angrily. I didn't really want him to die, but I was mad.

"No, Luke. That's not the solution to everything. But you reminded me, before you go, Lieutenant. Luke, how did he hurt you?"

"He talked about Mommy like she was still here. He said she'd be embarrassed by me." I started to cry again just because I'd thought about it.

"Don't cry, Luke. It'll be okay. Your mom wouldn't be ashamed of you no matter what. Lieutenant, you may go."

The sitter ran out of the room and out the door. I laughed meanly at how scared he was.

When he was gone, Daddy helped Cliegg to his feet and put Cliegg's arm around his neck. He helped him to the small medbay in the basement and I followed him, carrying Snakey.

He helped Cliegg to sit on the bench there and he started to brush the blood away from Cliegg's nose. As Daddy cleaned all Cliegg's new hurts, I crawled up beside him and gave him my snake to hold to make him feel better.

"Thank you, Luke," Cliegg said, but it came out all funny, like he was pinching his nose.

"I'm sorry, Cliegg, but it looks like that fight broke your nose." Daddy said.

"What fight? You were right; I didn't have a hope of defending myself!"

"I'm sorry to hear that. Hold still." Daddy carefully moved a little device over Cliegg's nose. "There, good as new."

Cliegg moved one hand up to touch it and smiled a bit. "Thank you."

"Is it all better now?" I asked.

"Yes, it's all better." Daddy answered replacing the machine. He helped Cliegg back up, but Cliegg collapsed right away, so Daddy picked him up the way he carries me. Snakey crawled down Cliegg's arm to me again.

When we got upstairs, Daddy put Cliegg back in his cell and let me in too. After our fight, we were both really tired. I snuggled Cliegg and went to sleep in his arms.


	8. Chapter 8

I don't know why Daddy keeps putting me back to bed when I fall asleep snuggling Cliegg. He should know by now that I'll just go back down again as soon as I wake up. I crawled out of bed and felt dizzy as soon as my feet touched the ground. I almost fell. Then I felt really sick.

I decided that it would be best for me to be in bed right now. Or lying down. I climbed back into bed and called for Daddy through the Force.

_Daddy? I feel sick._

_Run to the bathroom, then. I'll be up in a moment._

_Standing up makes it worse. I can't run. It hurts!_

_I'm coming, Luke._

Then I could hear Daddy running up the stairs as fast as he could. I moaned again and pressed my head in the pillow to try to stop myself from barfing. Daddy ran into my room and took my head on his lap. I burped and it tasted like eggs. When that happens, I know what's coming.

"Daddy, I'm gonna barf," I said, as steadily as I could.

Daddy picked me up and carried me to the bathroom, careful not to shake me. I did barf. Three times. Then I stopped bringing anything up. And trying started to hurt. I curled up against Daddy.

"I wan Cliegg," I moaned, then I started to cry a bit.

"Of course you do, Kiddo. Hold on to me. I'll take you down." I put my arms around Daddy's neck and he carried me down to the kitchen and Cliegg's cell.

"Is he all right?" Cliegg asked.

"I think when we brought you from prison we brought some germs too, Luke has a flu. He wants you to cuddle him."

Cliegg reached out for me and took me out of Daddy's arms.

"No! I want Daddy too!" I screamed. Daddy came into the cell too and sat next to us. He held me close and warm and I started to feel a bit better. Cliegg put his unhurt arm around me too and leaned on Daddy.

After a while I knew that Daddy needed to be doing other things and that Cliegg would keep me safe while he did them. I told Daddy and he nodded and left the cell. He brought his work to do at the kitchen table and keep an eye on us.

Cliegg rocked me a bit to make me feel like a baby in a cradle again, but not enough to make me sick. I held on to his shirt and he made small cooing noises in his throat like a caregiver droid. Daddy turned when he heard it and smiled at us. I coughed again and Cliegg looked up at Daddy who had gone back to working.

"Sir? I think Luke's going to be sick again."

Daddy turned and came to get me, "You heard Luke, Cliegg. Call me Daddy." He picked me up and carried me back to the bathroom.

When I was done, he brought me back to Cliegg. I pressed miserably against Cliegg and he carefully rocked me again and made the small cooing noises.

"Daddy, I'm hungry," I moaned. I don't get sick much and I couldn't remember if I could eat right now.

"All right, Luke. Would you like some apple sauce?"

"Okay." I clung to Cliegg again. He ran his hands through my hair and held me. "Wanna story," I said into his shirt.

"A story… what kind of story?" Cliegg asked.

"Tell me about being a Jedi."

"I don't think your daddy would like that. Why don't you ask him to tell you a story?"

"Daddy, tell me a story."

Daddy came back with my apple sauce, "You want stories about the Jedi?"

"Mhmm," I said.

Daddy gave me the bowl and came into the cell with us. "The Jedi, the Jedi… Do you want to hear about my Jedi Master?"

"Otay," I mumbled. My nose was stuffy now too.

"His name was Obi-Wan, and we used to have the most wonderful adventures together. He hated my flying, but in a pinch he would put up with it. We were like a family for a while, and I think we both loved each other. I know that he said I was like his brother. I sometimes thought of him as more of a father. He was wonderful. If I had known back then that I was going to be a father, I would have trusted him with the child's life."

I nudged him, "Wanna _story_."

"Sorry, you want a story. Right," Daddy nodded a bit.

"Do you remember Count Dooku?" he asked, and I nodded. I don't like him. He was always trying to hurt my daddy.

"One time, Count Dooku managed to capture me," he said, settling into his story mode. "He took me to his ship and kept me there. Obi-Wan managed to sneak in and find me, and we found the Dooku hoping we would be able to take him prisoner. Well, guess what happened? He ran off to a getaway ship, and we had to follow him. When we found one of our own, we blasted off after him. Obi-Wan got a lucky shot in, he hit Dooku's ship, and it crashed on a planet below us.

"Obi-Wan hated it when I flew, so while _he_ was flying the ship, he managed to get hit by a shot from a droid-ship. If I had been flying, it wouldn't have happened, but no, Obi-Wan was too stubborn. I took over and did my best to land it on the same planet Count Dooku had crashed on. We followed him into a cave, but he collapsed some of it and ran away. I was so worried that it had landed on Obi-Wan, but when he came out from behind me, you know what he said? 'Where is your lightsaber'! He didn't care that I was okay or that Dooku got away - he was mad at me for losing my lightsaber. It's not my fault it happened more than it should have."

"We tried looking for it, but Obi-Wan's lightsaber had been hit by a rock and sputtered out. While we were trying to figure out what to do next and how to get out of the cave, I heard a noise - and suddenly, a great big gundark jumped out at us. We had didn't have lightsabers, we couldn't see, and we had an angry mama gundark after us.

"Obi-Wan told me to distract it while he came up with a plan, so I ran all around the cave, mostly trying not to be eaten. And do you know what he was doing? He was staring at his lightsaber, trying to get it to turn on! Finally, he picked up a rock with the Force and threw it at it. I ran away, and then together, we buried it.

"While we were working our way out of the cave, green gas started filling the cave. It was really hard to breathe, and I couldn't see Obi-Wan. Right when I was ready to pass out, the rocks in front of the cave blew out and my Padawan arrived."

"What happened to Dooku?" I asked.

"That can wait until next time," Daddy smiled at me a bit and gave me a hug.


	9. Chapter 9

I don't get sick much and I don't stay sick long. The next morning I was awake right away. And I felt all better too. I slipped out of bed and didn't feel funny when my feet hit the ground, so I ran downstairs to see Cliegg and tell him that I was all better now.

When I got there I felt sick again, but not the same way as yesterday. Cliegg was gone. Daddy was gone. When I noticed I had that funny feeling for a moment. Then it was gone and I got some cereal to eat while I waited for them to get back.

When Daddy came in the door, I jumped off the chair I was eating at and ran to see him and Cliegg.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" I ran to him to jump into his arms, but I could see red around his eyes. Cliegg wasn't there. "Daddy?"

Daddy knelt down beside me. He pulled me into his arms and ran his hands through my hair. "Luke, oh, Luke, I'm so sorry. My master heard about my reaction to the sitter hurting Cliegg and he said that I had to send him back to jail for a week. I'm so sorry. I know how close you are."

"Cliegg's gonna get hurt again?" I shivered. Poor Cliegg. I didn't want my brother to get hurt. If Obi-Wan had been like Daddy's brother, then Cliegg was my Obi-Wan.

"Yes, Luke. I'm so sorry. I screwed up again. One day, when Cliegg had been tortured too much even for him, he asked me if I hated him. And if I wanted to kill him. He was angry at that point. Then he broke down and just asked me why. Again and again. He was crying so hard. It hurts to see someone you love like that. Force, I don't think I could stand it if it happened again." Daddy was crying too.

I don't think Daddy meant me to hear that. I think it just hurt so much he had to say it. I started to cry though. I knew that Daddy had loved Cliegg all along. But Daddy never told Cliegg that. Daddy never said it to Cliegg. And now Cliegg was back in jail, and Daddy couldn't tell him. It wasn't fair. Cliegg should get to know.

"I wanna see Cliegg."

"I'm sure you do. I'm not allowed to see him all this week, though. Neither are you." Daddy held me so close I almost thought he was scared the Emperor was going to take me too.

"Why's the Emperor such a jerk?" I asked.

"He needs to be so that he can stay in control."

"But Cliegg wasn't hurting anyone, why'd he have to hurt Cliegg? Why does he hurt people who aren't hurting him?"

"Sometimes he thinks people are hurting him when they aren't." Daddy gathered me up and carried me up to his room. He closed the door and snuggled me. I know why he took me here. This is the only room in the house that the Emperor doesn't have cameras in.

"Like the Jedi?"

Daddy stared down at me, "Who told you about that?"

"The teacher did. She said it was a great day for the Empire."

"Then why did you say that they weren't hurting him?" Daddy asked.

"Cliegg told me. He told me lots of stuff." I liked it when Cliegg told me stories.

"Oh." Daddy relaxed a bit.

"I miss him."

"I know you do, Kiddo. I'm so sorry. I miss him too."

"At least he's coming back." I pressed myself against Daddy.

"I hope so, Luke. I hope he comes back."

"What do you mean 'you hope'?" Cliegg had to come back! He just had to!

"The stormtroopers are very hard on the prisoners, Luke. When you went to see Cliegg in jail last time he was there, he told you he'd gotten sick. He was very, very sick. He also told you that he wouldn't get better. He had only been sick a short while. It would only have taken a few more days for it to kill him. All in all, it would have taken less than a week." Daddy sounded very tired.

"I'm never gonna see Cliegg again?" I asked. My voice was very small.

"You might not. But he's tough, he might pull through."

"Might," it didn't sound like much of a comfort.

"It's not unlikely. Last time's illness was contributed to by the fact that his arm was starting to get gangrene."

"Was'at?" I asked. It didn't sound like a good thing.

"Gangrene is basically when flesh still attached to the body dies, and starts to rot. It's disgusting. His whole body was trying to heal that and it was weakening his immune system."

"How could that happen?" I asked. Sometimes I ask questions I don't really want to know.

"When his arm was… torn up, some bacteria from his cell got into the wounds. That's why I put the bandage there for you. I guess we were too late to stop it. When I went to get him, I had him healed too."

"So it's all better now?" Cliegg had seemed okay. He hadn't seemed sick.

"For now," Daddy sighed and held me like I was a baby again.

"Daddy? Cliegg's gonna be okay, right?"

"To tell you the truth, he probably isn't. If he does survive, he probably won't be the same again."

"Oh." I pressed closer to Daddy for comfort.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"Will you sing to me?"

Daddy stared at me for a second before asking, "I thought you hated it when I sing."

I shrugged, "You have a funny voice, but you used to sing to me all the time. And right now I just want something to be the way it used to be."

"I can understand that." Daddy nodded. Then he started to sing for me. He never sings in basic. It's always Huttese. He says that his mom always used to sing to him in Huttese.

I actually like Daddy's voice. It's kinda nice. It's just so different when he sings, and I've never heard anyone other than him sing the songs he sings. Daddy says that that's a good thing. He says that some kids never hear their parents sing. They grow up only hearing famous people. I've heard a few famous people singing. It's just not the same though. When Daddy sings, he's singing for me. When they sing, they don't know who they're singing for.

I can feel Daddy breathing too. It's a good feeling. I know he's here and that he'll protect me from anything. Daddy suddenly gasped a little bit.

"Daddy, are you okay?" I asked, looking up at him. He looked kind of scared.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, Luke." Daddy started singing again.

I stayed snuggled in his arms for a few minutes. His voice was warm and I started to get sleepy. I was just starting to go to sleep when the words of the song he was singing changed. I can't speak Huttese, but what he was singing now didn't sound like a lullaby any more. Now he was just singing the same thing again and again.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Luke?"

"What are you singing?"

"A song." Daddy said, unhelpfully.

"What song?"

"A song I hope you never learn."

"If you don't want me to learn it, why are you singing it to me?"

"Because it's true," Daddy rocked me a bit.

"What is it? It sounds like the same thing again and again."

"I can't protect you forever. I won't always be here for you."

"I know that, but what are you singing?"

"Those are the words. I don't want you to need to learn the song because it's the worst feeling for a parent. Or anyone who loves anyone, I guess."

"Oh. Please sing to me some more."

"All right," Daddy drew me up again and started singing again. He had gone back to lullabies. I started to fall asleep again. As I went to sleep completely I heard Daddy's song become 'I'm sorry, Luke. I'm so sorry'.


	10. Chapter 10

I woke up curled in Daddy's arms that afternoon. He was working on something, but I don't think he'd put me down since I'd gone to sleep in his arms.

"Daddy?"

Daddy looked down, "Oh, you're awake. Good afternoon."

"Daddy, Cliegg's crying for you." I could feel him through the Force. He just kept screaming for Daddy again and again.

"I know, Luke. Don't worry that I'm trying to shut him out."

"They're not keeping him warm."

"I know." Daddy kept working.

"They haven't let him eat even a little bit. Not even leftovers."

"They're not required to."

"He's scared."

"I'm not surprised."

"You don't care, do you?" I looked at him and made my eyes as big as I could.

"I'm not allowed to care." Daddy smiled weakly at me. "Forget about it, okay?"

"Okay. Why did you sing 'I'm sorry, Luke. I'm sorry' earlier?"

"Because I was so upset that I'd told you so much about how I felt. I should be able to keep those feelings inside. But instead I burdened you with feelings you don't need yet. It's unfair, how I treat you sometimes."

"I don't mind. If it makes you feel better." I snuggled Daddy. He didn't seem to be about to put me down, and I didn't want him to. I could snuggle him forever.

"You don't need those feelings yet." Daddy repeated.

"I don't care."

I nuzzled his chest and he laughed. But the sound died so quickly. Like Cliegg. Cliegg's dying fast. I might never see him again. He's still calling for Daddy.

_It's gonna be okay, Cliegg._

_Why are you talking to me, Luke?_

_I want you to know that I love you. I don't want them to hurt you. I haven't forgotten you. Don't give up, Cliegg._

_I won't give up. You keep Daddy happy, all right? That's your job. If you can keep Daddy happy, I can survive. Can you do that for me?_

_Okay. Promise you won't let them get you?_

_I promise. Don't do this again, do you understand?_

_I want you to tell me you're okay every day. I want to be able to talk to you whenever I want to. Can't I? Please?_

_No, Luke. I'm sorry. I'll contact you every day, but don't try to talk to me when I haven't started the conversation, okay?_

_I guess. Why do you cry for Daddy?_

_Because they're hurting me._

_Don't you want your parents?_

_I do. But they can't answer me. I still hope your daddy might._

_Oh._

_Goodnight, Luke._

_Goodnight, Cliegg._

I looked at Daddy, "He's scared. He's crying for you."

"Tell him not to." Daddy was giving me the feeling again. When I think about it, he'd been giving me the feeling the whole time. Longer than that. I think it was here the whole time Cliegg was. And it didn't leave when he did.

"I can't. He said not to call him."

"All right then. Would you like to go to bed? They will be treating him more roughly than ever and you can bet they won't let him sleep enough, so you'll start to feel sleep deprived again."

"Okay. Will I start to feel him hurting too?" I didn't really care, if it made him feel better, I could take it.

"No. They took precautions to make sure you wouldn't. Let's get you up to bed, huh?" Daddy asked nicely and picked me up to carry me to my room. I put my arms tight around his neck and he took me up.


	11. Chapter 11

Every day it got worse. The second day, Cliegg would start screaming suddenly. Like Daddy'd said, I didn't feel his pain, but when he screamed I could feel at least a bit of it. On the third day, Cliegg was either screaming or crying all day. On the fourth day, he just screamed. I tried to make it all better for him by using the Force to give him a warm feeling the way Daddy does for me sometimes, but it didn't work.

When the fifth day came and he wasn't screaming, I asked Daddy why.

"You don't feel him screaming anymore?"

"No. He's got all quiet. Is he dead?" When I have to deal with something sad, I get very feelingless, so asking if Cliegg was dead made my voice sound dead.

"I don't think so. I would have felt if he'd died."

"You can't feel him screaming, though, can you?"

"No, I can't. I don't know why he stopped." Daddy just won't look at you when he's sad. He was bent over a datapad and he wouldn't look at me.

"Daddy, something happened to him and you know about it."

"No I don't," Daddy said.

"Yes you do. Otherwise you wouldn't be crying."

"It's just that it might take them a while to tell me if he had died. It might be hours before we'd know.

"Are you saying that you think he is dead?" I shivered.

"I'm saying that I don't know. And I don't know how to find out. The worst thing for me is that by the time I know, it would be too late to do anything."

"We could go to Coruscant and then they could tell us faster."

"I think that's a good idea. Go pack your teddy and feed your snake," Daddy said. I've had clothes and stuff at Daddy's other castle for as long as I can remember.

I nodded and ran to get him. When I got back, Daddy was all set to go too. Actually he was ready to go before I left. All he ever takes is his lightsaber, and he always has that with him anyway.

"All ready, Luke?"

"Yeah." I held up my teddy, "Bear's ready to go too."

Daddy bent down and picked me up. He tends to get more snuggly when he gets the feeling. I put my arms around his neck and Bear hung down his back. He carried me into his ship and put me on the co-pilot's seat.

"Daddy, do you think Cliegg's okay?" I asked. Daddy had said to forget it, but I can't just forget that he's not there. When I look for him in the Force, he's not there.

"I don't know."

"I know you don't know, but do you think he's okay?"

"Luke, you'll take whatever I say as a fact. It'll give you potentially false hope, or make you cry. I can't deal with that right now." Daddy started flying.

"I hope he's okay."

"I hope so too, but we can't do anything about it, so let's stop thinking about it, okay?"

"I can't stop thinking about it." I hugged Bear.

"Well, at least don't talk about it." Daddy snapped. He didn't mean to hurt my feelings, though, so I just hugged Bear and watched the star-streaks.

When we came out of hyperspace, Daddy turned to me, "I'm sorry, Luke. This is just really hard for me."

"I know. I love you, Daddy. Don't let Cliegg be scared, okay?"

"How can I avoid it? He's being tortured and he knows that no one will come to help him. What could I possibly do to make him feel better that wouldn't get all of us killed?" Daddy sighed and picked me up.

"Just send him the warm feeling."

"The warm feeling?" Daddy asked.

"When I feel bad you give me a warm feeling with the Force."

"Oh, this one?" Daddy gave me the feeling.

"Yeah! Give Cliegg the feeling and he'll feel better. He won't be so scared!"

"I can't, Luke. My master thought of that. If I contact him through the Force, we'll all be punished."

"Oh… but poor Cliegg…"

"Sorry, Luke. Cliegg's sentence is almost over. If he's survived this long…"

Daddy stopped. He didn't know. Or it was bad. He carried me into the castle and up to my room there. He put me on the bed and wrapped one of the blankets around me.

"Sleep, okay, Luke? Cliegg needs the sleep, and you can give it to him, in a way."

"Okay, Daddy." I curled up and he tucked me in. Then he kissed my cheek and I closed my eyes to sleep. I heard Daddy leave the cell and walk down the hall. Then he screamed my name.

I jumped out of bed and ran to find him, but when I got close, I could hear him talking to someone. I peeked around the corner and saw him staring at Cliegg, who was curled on the floor crying. I decided that I didn't feel like actually telling them I was there yet.

"Father, please! Don't send me back there! I can't take it… please…" Cliegg looked up at Daddy.

Daddy knelt beside him and took his head on his lap. "Luke, I can't. My master would kill us."

Cliegg managed to drag himself up against Daddy's stomach and Daddy hugged him, "Please. It's too much. I can't take it. I promised… your little son that I could take it, but I can't. I just can't. Please…"

Daddy started to run his hands through Cliegg's hair, "I wish I could, but it would just make it worse for all of us. I'm sorry, Luke. I have to turn you in again. It'll be over soon."

Cliegg whimpered and reached for Daddy's neck. Daddy picked him up and held him close. "It might be over sooner than you think. Father, I think I'm dying."

Daddy tensed, then started to rub Cliegg's back again, "Don't be frightened, Luke. You can hold on. I'm sure of it."

"I'm not. I'm frightened. Please hold me. If you're going to turn me in again, just promise you'll hold me until they get here to take me away. Promise you'll treat me like _I'm _the one you raised. Like I'm your baby. Like you actually care…"

"I do care, Luke. I do care about you. You are my little baby, even if you're not the one I raised. Why are you so scared you won't survive? You're a strong child, you can survive."

"I don't know about that. They torture me all the time. I'm not allowed to sleep. I haven't eaten since I arrived. Force, it's so cold in those cells. Father, I'm not well suited to cold! I grew up on Tatooine, for the star's sake!" Cliegg broke down and started sobbing.

I sat down against the wall. What was Daddy saying? What were he and Cliegg talking about? Why was Cliegg asking Daddy to treat him like he was the special one? Special next to what? He was special to me. And why was Daddy calling him 'son'? More than that, why was Daddy calling him 'Luke'? I know I said that Daddy could be Cliegg's Daddy too, but I hadn't meant this!

"I know, I know. You're frightened. Don't be, you can make it." Daddy was snuggling Cliegg the way he snuggles me.

"Daddy? Cliegg? What's happening?" I came out of my corner. Daddy looked up right away, but he didn't let go of Cliegg.

"Come here, Luke. How long have you been listening in?" He held out one arm to me. I walked over, but didn't get close enough for him to pull me into a hug.

"What's happening? Why are you calling him Luke? I'm Luke, he's Cliegg!" I pointed at me, then him to show what I meant.

Daddy blinked at me for a moment. Then he nodded, "Yes, I called him Luke. I know you're used to calling him Cliegg. He chose that name when he heard me call you Luke and then you asked him what his name was. He didn't want to confuse you."

I gave Daddy my hardest look. It doesn't work very well, because apparently I'm very cute when I'm angry. Daddy smiled. "You're lying to me!"

Cliegg-no, Luke- looked up at me, "It's true, Luke. Don't worry about it." He smiled at me a bit.

"It's not the whole truth! You're not telling me something!" I stomped my foot and started to cry.

Daddy used the Force to pull me over to him and he hugged me, "It's okay, Luke. Don't be upset." He kissed my forehead.

"I'm upset! You aren't telling me everything! He calls you 'Father'! He asked you to treat him like your baby! I'm your baby!"

Cliegg nodded, "I know, and I'm not trying to change that. I'm not trying to take him away from you, I just need some attention. You're okay with that, aren't you?"

"He can be your Daddy too, but-but- it's more than that! You think he _is _your daddy!"

Daddy hung his head, "Luke, both of you, I have to tell you something. You especially," he said looking at me, "You've learned about cloning, right?"

I put my thumb in my mouth and chewed my nail. Then I nodded a little bit.

"You are a clone." Daddy said quickly. I laughed. He was being silly again!

"I'm not joking, Luke. You are a clone of your friend Cliegg, who is the real Luke Skywalker."

"That's silly!" I laughed again, "You're being silly!"

Daddy shook his head, "Sit down, Luke. I have to talk to you. I don't want you running away in the middle of the conversation."

I sat down.

"Look at your friend, Luke. He looks just like you."

"He's older. He's skinnier. He's got scars everywhere. I don't."

"Luke, you're deliberately not taking me seriously. You have the same colour of eyes, a similar hair colour, although yours will darken to the same shade as his later. You're both short," we both glared at him for a moment, "Sorry, but it's true!"

I nodded a bit. That made sense. "Why did you clone him an' take care of me? Why didn't you just take care of him so none of this happened?"

"Are you saying you wish I hadn't cloned you?" Daddy asked.

"No, I just wanna know why you did."

"It wasn't me. When a child is born in the Empire they are required to donate some stem cells for cloning experiments. My master found the ones from Luke and cloned him. The clone, that's you, grew up in his palace. At the time, the original Luke was growing up with his aunt and uncle on Tatooine.

"When Luke became entangled in the Alliance, and I found out about him, I became obsessed with finding him. I fought for almost a year to catch him so he could be my little son, so I could be a parent, but when I finally captured him; my master told me that I had to send him to prison.

"In return, my master brought me the clone. He wiped the clone's memory of living in a cloning tank, and replaced it with false memories of living with me. You both know what happened from there."

I blinked up at Daddy. This was all silly! It sounded like one of my games of make-believe-and-let's-pretend, but I felt like it was real. If that was true… I wasn't any more important than a few cells… I wasn't me. I wasn't my own person. I was just Cliegg, but younger…

I felt myself start to cry. I wasn't special! I was just a copy! Why would my Daddy even want me when he got Cliegg back? What if he didn't? What if he sent me away?

Daddy hugged me, "Don't worry, Luke. You're still my baby, just because you're the same genetically as-as, well, the other Luke, doesn't mean that you're not you. There's more than just genetics to who a person is. How you're raised, what you do… it all contributes! Epigenetically, you and… you know, are probably very different."

"What's that?" I sniffled.

"Epigenetics are like something above genetics. Kind of like temporary genetics, because they can be changed, but they can also be passed from parent to child. I was just trying to say that you are your own person. Don't be afraid that you're exactly the same. I've told you about working with the clones during the Clone Wars, haven't I?"

I nodded.

"I've told you how different the clones could be, right?"

I sniffled and nodded again.

"Well, they were all clones of the same guy, and look how different they were from one another! I couldn't tell you of any two that were exactly alike. There were millions of them, there are only two of you, and I'm sure you'll be very different." Daddy smiled a bit, "Heck, I've met unrelated originals who were more alike than some of those clones."

I sniffled. Daddy can always make me feel better. I pressed against him. "We don't hafta send him back to jail, do we?"

Daddy looked at Cliegg. "No, we don't." He put me on the floor and stood up. Then he picked Luke up and carried him through the halls into our hidden chambers. I followed him way, way down into the castle. We went through more and more trapdoors and hidden stairways and all I could think was,_ just like the holos._

Finally we got to the bottom of a last staircase and Daddy carried the other Luke into a small room. He put him on the bed and I scrambled up beside him. Luke smiled a little bit and let me hug him, but he'd stopped moving mostly.

Daddy smiled at us, "I need to get Luke some food, okay? You stay here and keep each other company.

I nodded. That I could do. I put my arms around Cl-Luke again and snuggled close to him. Daddy gave us another smile and left back up the staircase.

"You're gonna be okay, right?" I asked.

"I think so. Daddy's being really nice letting me stay. Otherwise I might not have been."

"Did you really think you were gonna die?" I asked seriously.

"I would have died. It's definite."

I shivered a bit, "Both being Luke's gonna be confusing, isn't it?"

"Yes, it will be. I could stay Cliegg if you want."

"No, you're Luke too. Could I have a new name?" I asked hopefully. As long as everything was working like movies, I could have a code name, couldn't I?

"Sure, if you want to. What do you have in mind?" He smiled at me.

I shrugged, I hadn't thought about that yet, "I dunno, do you have any ideas?"

"No, you asked if you could have a new one, I just assumed that meant you had one in mind. Why don't we ask Daddy?"

I nodded. That was a good idea. Then Daddy would like the new name too.

"I don't feel well enough to talk much, okay, Luke?"

"Okay," I pressed close against him to show him that I was still here, and that I cared. Then I started to go to sleep. He lay back down and snuggled me the way I snuggle Bear and started to go to sleep too.


	12. Chapter 12

Daddy managed to hide Luke until the end of his sentence, I don't know how.

We had actually gone to sleep that day, curled up together, so I'd had to wait until the next day to ask Daddy about choosing another name. In the end, we decided on Ben. That's what Obi-Wan called himself when he was watching over Luke on Tatooine, and it meant a lot to both of them. So now I was Ben, but they both called me Benji most of the time.

Daddy says that he's going to take us to Luke's Rebel Alliance. His master got really mad when Luke got out of prison early and he tried to kill us. Daddy said that being a Sith isn't worth putting us in danger and that he hates it anyway.

So Luke's trying to contact his friends. They'll take us back with them and keep us safe.

"Dad!" Luke called from the other room where he was calling from.

"What do you need, Luke?" Daddy went to join him. I followed.

"Mon Mothma wants to talk to you about all this. Here," he passed Daddy the comlink and took my hand, "Come on, Benji, let's get out of Daddy's way."

"Okay," I followed him out of the room.

Luke led me up the stairs to my room (we were back on Vjun) and pulled something off his belt.

"Do you still want to build that monster trap?" he grinned at me.

"Yeah!" I reached for what he'd taken off his belt. It was some string. He took another one off his belt and we started building together.

Luke took the string and climbed on to my bed. He tied it to the light then tossed me the other end, "Tie this to your chair, okay?"

"Okay!" I did as I was told. Luke gave it a quick tug and it gave a bit. He frowned.

"No, on second thought, tie it to the leg of your desk."

I untied it and crawled under the desk to attach it to the far leg. Luke gave it another pull and it didn't give.

"There we go. Perfect."

"Yeah." I nodded.

He jumped lightly off the bed and moved to the window. "Toss me the string, please." I did, and he tied it to the top of the window.

I sat down on the bed and watched him running around, rigging the entire room against monsters. He didn't seem to notice that I wasn't helping anymore. He used to apologise a lot when that happened, but I don't mind. I like watching him building. The same way I like to watch Daddy working on something.

When Luke was done, he came over to me and sat on the bed beside me, "Okay, do you see that string?"

I nodded.

"That string pulls that, which pulls that, which turns that which turns on the lights, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now all you need is a flashlight, and your room will be completely monster free."

"Okay!" I smiled and bounced. Then I heard Daddy coming. Luke looked up too, but neither of us thought to warn Daddy about the monster trap. Which he tripped on. I jumped of the bed and ran to him, but he was already sitting up laughing.

"Sorry, Dad. We set a monster trap." Luke came over too.

"You set a monster trap…?" Daddy laughed a bit.

"Yeah, Benji was having nightmares about monsters last time I was here." Luke smiled a bit and helped Daddy up.

I nodded too, so Daddy would know he wasn't making it up.

"So I guess that makes me a monster, doesn't it?" Daddy teased.

"You're not a monster! You're my Daddy!" I hugged him. He and Luke laughed.

When they were done laughing, Daddy got more serious.

"Okay, the Alliance leaders say they recognise Luke, but we have to do something to prove ourselves before Benji and I can join. Luke, you can join them, or you can work with us to gain acceptance."

"I'm staying with you." Luke said instantly.

"Wow, you had to think about that a lot, didn't you?" Daddy laughed.

Luke smiled, "No."

So now we have to get the Alliance to believe that we're not spies. I'm kind of nervous, but if Daddy and Luke are going to be helping, I'm sure we can do it!


End file.
